DURHAM — Town officials are warning business owners about a scam involving a person falsely representing himself as an employee of Public Service of New Hampshire.

Police Chief David Kurz said there is a common thread between this scam artist and the individual who called in a fake bomb threat to the Rite Aid at Mill Plaza on June 27.

In each case, the individual trying to solicit money called on the telephone and attempted to get employees to purchase Green Dot MoneyPaks, prepaid debit cards available for sale at Rite Aid, and then give up the numbers on the card.

Kurz said that on Wednesday, two prominent downtown businesses received a call from a man who identified himself as “Chris White.” The man claimed to be a representative from PSNH and told the person who answered the phone that there was an outstanding balance on the business’s electric bill. The caller advised that if the company did not pay that amount, power would be shut off within an hour.

Employees at both businesses wrote down the number shown on the caller ID and notified police.

A Durham detective called the number back and a man answered as if he was in a PSNH office, but his foreign accent became more pronounced as the call went on, according to a posting on Durham’s “Friday Updates.”

The detective pretended to be from one of the businesses. After being instructed to buy the Green Dot Paks, the detective asked why. The man said the billing service PSNH routinely used was not in operation and this was an alternative method that would take care of the bill.

Kurz said that the Police Department is working with the FBI on this case and the bomb threat.

“The good news is, the more information they give us, the further we get,” Kurz said.

Officials said even though the calls are probably initiated in a third-world country, it is important to take them seriously and report them to police, especially in the case of a bomb threat.

Martin Murray, a media spokesman for PSNH, said these types of scams are an ongoing issue for utility companies. A similar scam was reported in Bristol this spring.

Murray said PSNH would never ask people to purchase a Green Dot card or threaten a customer in the way this individual had.

“Unfortunately, there’s a lot of scam artists that try all sorts of tricks to get people to part with their money,” Murray said.

The best advice he can give people is to call the PSNH customer service line at 1-800-662-7764 if they have any questions about their bill. There is also a list of ways people can avoid being scammed on the company’s website, www.psnh.com.